


Detention is for Suckers

by Lena2TheLetter



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:37:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3071789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lena2TheLetter/pseuds/Lena2TheLetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis likes rules. So it comes as quite a shock when she's given an afternoon in detention. At Hogwarts though, nothing is as it seems. Detentions might mean a run in with a flesh eating Ghoul or a mysterious Slytherin girl, as beautiful as she is impertinent. Maybe both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Detention

“She seriously gave you detention?” Danny jogs after Laura as she leaves the Great Hall, heavy bag of books thumping against her hip.

Slowing down Laura nods ruefully, tugging impatiently at the worn satchel’s leather strap.

“Apparently, Professor Hofstadter didn’t appreciate my extra commentary about Gnome societies in the 14th century. I was only trying to help!”

“Here, let me get that for you.”

Danny lifts the heavy bag from Laura’s shoulder with ease and slings it over her head. 

Laura ducks her chin to her chest and offers a mildly embarrassed, “thanks”.

Laura hopes she doesn’t come across as ungrateful. It isn’t that, but rather, lately Danny has been hinting pretty heavily that she might have feelings for Laura- more than friendly feelings. Laura meanwhile, has yet to figure out exactly how she feels about that and instead, tries to delay any major advances until she can make up her mind. 

For instance, the other night Laura had been sitting alone in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room when Danny came in from the kitchens holding two tall, steaming hot chocolates. She sat next to Laura, handing her a mug. Laura’s excited smile faltered when Danny scooted closer and opened her mouth, eyes shining. Before she could get a word out though, Laura made an exaggerated show of coughing and spluttering on her cocoa and ran up the stairs to the girl’s dorm, calling back some lame apology about bad gag reflexes. She cringes thinking about it. 

“So, where is it?”

Laura turns to Danny, her expression one of clear confusion.

“Sorry, what?”

Danny laughs good-naturedly.

“Your detention? Where’s your detention?”

Together they push out the hulking front doors of the castle and step out into mid-May sunshine. 

“Oh! It’s in the dungeons.”

Laura’s face turns down into a scowl recalling the freezing cold dungeon room where she and her fellow Gryffindors take Potions lessons every week.  
Danny pats the top of her head sympathetically, ruffling her hair.

“I know, better bring a jacket. I hate it down there.”

“Hey weirdos!” 

A shock of ginger hair bobs in the distance as Lafontaine ascends the grassy hill toward the castle. Laura waves cheerfully but Danny looks a little put out at the interruption.

“Perry not with you?” Danny calls back.

Laf reaches the stone steps and plops down on the bottom one with a winded huff. 

“Neh, the Puffs have Charms this afternoon. I’m meeting her for dinner later though if you losers want to join!”

Danny shrugs lackadaisically and hums in agreement. 

“Wish I could guys, but I was just telling Dan, I have detention. In fact, I should probably start heading there now. I always get lost on my way down.”

Laura makes her way through the narrow sloping passage that, if she remembers correctly, leads directly to the Dungeons. Above her, a poltergeist flicks dust from the walls and ceiling into her hair and cackles maniacally. 

Professor Hofstadter’s door is open when she arrives and she knocks gently before entering. 

“Ah, Ms. Hollis. Glad to see at least one of my detainees has some concept of punctuality. You’ll be writing lines in the classroom just next door. On you go, I’ll be there shortly.”

Laura walks to the empty neighboring room and takes a seat at the far end next to the wall. It’s silent for almost ten minutes with nothing but the echoes of ghosts and student footsteps filtering in from outside. Laura begins to think about going back and finding the Professor but just then, another girl swings through the door, dragging her bag carelessly along the floor behind her. She’s got dark raven hair and her green tie is hanging loosely from her neck. Laura doesn’t remember ever seeing her before, but that’s not very surprising considering Gryffindor and Slytherin have an infamous rivalry and prefer not to mingle if they can help it. The girl spares a brief glance at Laura and sneers, going to flop down at a desk in the back row. 

Laura rolls her eyes and straightens her spine, pulling her quills from the depths of her satchel, fully ready to ignore any deviant detention regulars and finish her lines as fast as possible. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to concentrate due to an incessant tapping echoing off the Granit walls around her. Laura turns to see the strange Slytherin girl beating out a rhythm on the oak desk top with a black leather booted foot. 

“You know, you really shouldn’t put your feet up there. Professor Hofstadter could come in any minute.”

The girl rakes her hand through her dark locks, pulling the loose strands off of her pale brow and tilts her head sardonically in Laura’s direction. Her eyes are dark, almost black and they shake Laura to her quick. That is they did, until she scoffs and says,

“Do you always follow the rules, Cupcake?”

“I try to. Shouldn’t everyone?”

The girl laughs and stands up, coming to sit next to Laura with a smirk marring her delicate features.

“Well clearly not hard enough, since you landed yourself here.”

Laura’s jaw drops, she can’t believe the audacity of this girl. Although she is a Slytherin so it shouldn’t come as much surprise. Laura thinks it’s her Pre-Raphaelite exterior that was at first misleading. Regaining her composure, she turns to face off with the rude stranger.

“I’ll have you know I’m not here for breaking a rule, it was a misunderstanding!”

The girl just nods in an infuriatingly condescending manner, as if to say “sure it was, darling” and turns to face the front. She stays in the desk right beside Laura though, and Laura finds herself studying her profile. She really is one of the most beautiful girls Laura has ever seen, which is inconvenient considering she’s clearly also one of the most unpleasant. Her skin is porcelain white, her lips blood red and her hair black as the night, cascading down past her shoulders in soft waves. 

The classroom door slams shut behind a flustered looking Professor Hofstadter and Laura jumps, averting her eyes from the girl beside her in alarm. 

“Change of plan I’m afraid girls. Your detention shall have to be postponed. We’re having some trouble out in the corridor with an escaped Cemetery Ghoul.”

“Isn’t the whole point of a Cemetery Ghoul that they’re supposed to live in, you know, cemeteries?” 

No need to tell you who says that. 

“I don’t appreciate your attitude Ms. Karnstein. There was a mishap in one of the senior Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. You best run along back to your common room before I give you another detention. And the same goes for you, Ms. Hollis.”

Laura looks outraged and opens her mouth fully ready to make her disassociation with this girl clear, but said girl, grinning ear to ear, beats her to it.

“The professor’s right Ms. Hollis.” She says mockingly. “Let’s go before you get us into any more trouble.” 

She grabs Laura by the hand and tugs her to the door, slipping out into the dimly lit hall.

“Erm excuse me but who the hell are you, and what do you think you’re doing?”

Laura tries to maintain her irritation and focus as little attention as possible on the soft hand still gripping her own. 

“I’m Carmilla, Cutie. And what do you think? I’m getting us out of there before the old git changes his mind.”

“My name isn’t Cutie! It’s Laura. I’m Laura.”

The girl, Carmilla, drops Laura’s hand and shrugs.

“Sure thing Creampuff, but we’ll have to discuss your preferred alias another time. I think I hear something coming.”

Laura freezes listening to the distant sounds of spells shouted from some deep recess of the dungeon and then she hears it. A slow, wet slurping, like a vacuum cleaner being pushed over a soggy carpet and the creaking of rickety bones moving unsteadily towards them.

Carmilla holds Laura’s gaze and brings her index finger to her lips. Laura nods and holds her breath. The two of them begin to tip toe backwards down the hall, away from the approaching squelches and their heals have nearly hit the first step of a staircase to the ground level when it shudders and lurches away from them.

“Carmilla, the staircase is moving! What do we do now?” Laura panics and grabs Carmilla’s hand. Carmilla clutches it so tightly that it might have hurt had it not been for the adrenaline, and yanks Laura’s small body behind her taller one. 

A grotesque figure, all bones and thin sagging grey skin steps out from around the corner at the end of the hall and hobbles stiltedly closer, sucking on the air through a mouth almost completely sealed with green slime. 

Carmilla pulls out her wand and Laura does the same, holding it shakily in her free hand.

“I don’t suppose you know any anti-Ghoul spells?”

Laura shakes her head even though she knows Carmilla can’t see her and watches in horror as the fiend closes in on them. 

Carmilla sends a stun spell shooting in vibrant sparks of sapphire and gold that hits the approaching creature square in the chest. It goes ridged mid creaking step and topples over with a clatter like an old broomstick. 

“How long is that going to last?” Laura asks warily.

“Not long, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Carmilla runs, still dragging Laura by the hand. They bolt around two more corners and come to a stop in front of a dark stone wall bordered by an archway, at the top of which hangs the portrait of a slim man with an austere air, sleeping at his desk. 

He wakes when Carmilla clears her throat loudly, once again shoving Laura behind her back. 

“Acromantula.”

The man in the painting grunts and the solid slabs inside the arch part to reveal a passageway. 

Carmilla motions for Laura to follow but just as they cross the threshold, Laura falters.

“Isn’t this the Slytherin common room? I’m not allowed in here.”

“It’s either this or become Ghoul spaghetti, take your pick Cupcake.”

“Better spaghetti than cupcake.” Laura gripes but nonetheless, follows Carmilla down the dark tunnel.

At the other end, they emerge into a dimly lit room. It’s spacious with a green fire crackling at one end, sending silver sparks up into a wide chimney. Big emerald couches and tall backed black velvet armchairs line the walls below a shining metal Slytherin House coat of arms. Luckily, the room is deserted and Laura thinks it must be almost dinnertime in the Great Hall. Her stomach rumbles forlornly. 

“Are you going to get in trouble for bringing me here?” She asks, following Carmilla to a couch in front of the fire.

“I don’t intend on getting caught, so no.” 

Carmilla seems to have relaxed now that they’re a safe distance and one large stone blockade from the flesh eating Ghoul and her voice becomes smooth, deep and silky. She speaks every word with intention and an archaic lilt, as if to emphasize the importance of each syllable. 

Laura looses her train of thought briefly as she lets Carmilla’s voice wash over her, sending the breath of butterfly wings up her spine. Carmilla seems to notice that Laura’s eyes have lost focus because she laughs, noiselessly. 

They sit like that, considering each other in silence until Laura finally awakens from her inner haze. 

“Thank you.”

Tilting her head, Carmilla looks confused.

“For what you did back there, you pretty much saved my butt. And for taking me here.” 

Carmilla smiles then. It’s bright and genuine and the first proper smile Laura has witnessed on her. The sight is divine, a revelation and Laura leans in to revel in it without even thinking. She only realizes how close she’s getting to Carmilla’s face when she looks up from the roseate lips in front of her and meets Carmilla’s wide startled eyes. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Carmilla shakes her head and brushes the back of her knuckles across the plain of Laura’s cheek. Laura holds her breath and thinks maybe Carmilla will kiss her but before she can, voices begin to filter in through the tunnel from which they’d just come.

Cursing, Carmilla yanks her hand back to her side quick as a frightened hare and Laura looks down at her lap, awkward all of a sudden. 

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Carmilla hisses.

The voices are fast approaching though and Laura senses it’s too late for that. 

“They’re already past the portrait…” She panics for the umpteenth time that afternoon but apparently, she needn’t have.

Carmilla jumps to her feet and pushes Laura in front of her, leading her toward a steep tower of stairs Laura had assumed lead to the dormitories. In all her haste though, Carmilla remains gentle and Laura smiles feeling Carmilla’s icy fingertips barely brushing the nape of her neck. 

“There’s another way out, a back way.”

Laura and Carmilla stumble through a house elf-sized door and finally find themselves in the brightness of the main corridor outside the Great Hall.

Laura blinks in utter bewilderment and Carmilla laughs heartily.

“Ever wondered how Slytherins always manage to make it to meals on time?” 

Laura feels giddy and bounces on the balls of her feet. All the adrenaline from earlier combined with Carmilla’s strangely jolting affect on her begin to show. Carmilla must mistake it for impatience or perhaps even boredom because her mouth tilts down and she sighs.

“I guess you must be hungry, hey Cupcake. I’ll leave you to eat. See you around?”

“Wait!” Laura finds that her mouth has moved before her brain was conscious of it and counts that the third time just that day. “My friends have probably almost finished eating by now… do you maybe want to sit together for dinner?” 

Carmilla’s eyes shine candle bright listening as Laura stumbles through her speach but she hesitates. 

“Houses never mix at dinner though.”

Laura nudges Carmilla in the side with her elbow playfully.

“And since when have you taken any stock in the rules around here?”

Carmilla beams and Laura feels as though her mouth will never relax neutral again, she’s so tickled to cause such reactions in Carmilla. 

The two of them turn to the entrance of the Great Hall and are about to push on the heavy double doors when they swing open suddenly from the inside, nearly knocking the two of them over. Danny, Lafontaine and Perry rush out collectively toting several trays of deserts. They slow when they notice Laura and stop dead when they notice whom she’s with.

“Uh, hey guys!” Laura chimes in, oblivious to the threesome’s apparent incredulity regarding her company. Carmilla stays quiet and looks at her toes. 

“Laura. We were just wondering where you were. We thought you might want some snacks after detention.” Danny tries her best not to seem over eager and anxious but she doesn’t like the look of the dark new comer next to Laura. 

“That’s thoughtful, but detention was cut short. Some trouble with an escaped ghoul Professor Hofstadter had to deal with. We were actually just about to grab some food!” 

Lafontaine’s eyebrow cocks up in a prized smirk, before asking, “We?” 

Carmilla swallows heavily. She’s all too aware that Laura’s candy sweet friends don’t seem to be warming to her presence. Luckily, Laura remains unfazed.

“Yeah, we! This is Carmilla. We met in detention and she sort of saved the day when we ran into Franken-Ghoul in the hallway.” 

“It was just a simple stun charm, Creampuff. No big deal.” Carmilla blushes, a sunset coral pink just barely tinting the surface of her milky complexion. 

Laura turns to her, “Don’t be modest, I’d be digested by now if it weren’t for you.”

Danny clears her throat and fixes a piercing gaze down at Carmilla.

“Then I guess we owe you some thanks.” It’s not a question and Danny doesn’t look particularly amenable so Carmilla remains quiet, her face blank. She meets Danny’s eyes though, and holds them waiting for an excuse to go off on the boorish giant. 

Laura, finally waking to the growing tension touches Carmilla’s arm with gentle concern and lightly tugs on her sleeve.

“We’d better go before they start to clear up. Coming Carm?”

Carmilla is lifted from her stupor hearing the nickname and she instantly loses any guileless animosity toward the redheaded tree in favour of a warm melting sensation in her chest. 

“Sure thing Laura.”

She only realizes later whilst sitting back in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room, that she’d finally used Laura’s name. 

Laura shovels food into her mouth like she hasn’t eaten all week and Carmilla laughs, wondering how such a petite girl can have quite that voracious an appetite. 

“Are you not going to eat?” Laura asks through a barely contained mouthful of mashed potatoes.

“I am Cutie, I’m just enjoying myself watching you first.”

Laura burns crimson and swallows the warm starchy goodness, wiping her chin on a bright green napkin, compliments of the Slytherin table. Around them, a number of other students in green ties like Carmilla’s look at the pair quizzically but Carmilla decides she couldn’t care less what they think and happily chugs a pint of Pumpkin Ale. 

When Laura finally climbs through the portrait hole into Gryffindor Common Room, it’s past ten o’clock and the castle is silent. She left Carmilla with a shy embrace on the landing before the stairs to the dungeons and expects that the cozy circular room will be similarly sparse. 

To her surprise and immediate suspicion, Danny and Lafontaine are still sitting up. They seem to have been speaking in hushed whispers until they notice Laura coming in. 

“Hi? Isn’t it a bit late for revising notes?” 

Lafontaine looks up and smiles but it’s uneasy and combined with a side eye to Danny. 

“We’ve got to talk to you Laura.” Danny finally speaks up, her brow furrowed with concern.

Laura sighs heavily and walks further into the room. She knows she shouldn’t be annoyed, Danny has only good intentions but she can’t help it.

“Are you sure this can’t wait until tomorrow? It’s been a long day what with fleeing detention and fighting a Ghoul.”

Danny’s frown only deepens. 

“It’s about that girl, Carmilla.” She continues.

“Of course it is.” Laura bristles. “Isn’t it about time we get over this whole hatred of Slytherins? They’re not all bad.”

Danny comes to stand in front of Laura and lays a hand that is probably meant to be comforting on Laura’s shoulder but just feels condescending. 

“Maybe not, but this isn’t about her being a Slytherin. Carmilla is…” Danny trails off and looks down at Lafontaine on the sofa, perhaps for moral support or some back up, but Laf appears occupied picking at a loose string on the bench cushion.

“Carmilla is what?” Laura is fast beginning to lose her patience. 

“She’s evil!” Danny spits out, flustered by Laura’s angered expression. “There- There are rumors about her. That she’s-“ Again Danny ‘s nerve dwindles. 

Finally, Lafontaine comes to her aid. 

“Look Laura, we don’t know anything for certain but the rumor around Hogwarts is that Carmilla is… a vampire. I don’t want to seem species-ist but an old as fuck blood sucking demon? I’m not so sure those are qualities one wants in a friend, or a more than friend.”

Laura’s face burns scarlet and she’s speechless for a moment. Then,

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! It’s a juvenile rumor. I can’t believe you two would stoop so low.” She turns and begins to climb the stairs. “I’m going to bed.”

Laura lies in her four-poster bed and fiddles with the curtain. She can’t seem to settle, let alone relax enough to drift off. She thinks of Carmilla, her audacious grin and her dark midnight eyes against prairie smooth pale skin. Then she remembers Danny’s words and turns over, burying her head beneath her pillow with a groan. 

***

The next day, Laura sits through her classes in a thick fog. Her brain seems only capable of picking out dark hair from crowds of students in the hall. Twice, she almost calls out for Carmilla but each time, the student turns before she can to reveal someone else. Danny and Lafontaine notice her preoccupation in Potions. Laura has her eye fixed on the door, unblinking like a bird of prey as the Slytherins file in and take their seats at the other side of the room, but Carmilla never appears. Laura scolds herself for even hoping. She knew she’d never seen Carmilla before! Laura realizes that she never asked what year she was in, and guesses now that Carmilla must be in a year above her. She sighs dejectedly and slumps down low in her chair. 

It’s not until lunch in the Great Hall that Laura finally spots Carmilla. She’s sitting with her head down sipping slowly from a silver goblet and seems in deep reverie until Laura’s eyes land on her. As if sensing her gaze, Carmilla lifts her chin and greets Laura with a surprised smile. They share glances until the end of the meal at which time, Laura waves Danny and Laf on to class ahead of her. They share a worried look, looking to Carmilla who is also still in her seat but even so, do as instructed. The moment they’re gone, Laura grabs her books and skips over to the Slytherin table. 

“Hi!” She doesn’t know why but suddenly Laura feels cripplingly shy. She stands in front of Carmilla but doesn’t take a seat. 

“Hey Buttercup, are you okay?”

“I think so. Could I talk to you though? Privately if possible.” Laura almost doesn’t ask but something in Carmilla’s eyes is earnest and Laura finds it easy to say what she means with her. 

Carmilla looks apprehensive now, as if she knows what’s coming but nonetheless, she nods and leads Laura out of the Hall. She takes Laura to the library and then to a secluded corner at the back, next to a row of old dusty muggle novels and philosophy texts. Laura looks questioningly at her and Carmilla manages a short laugh.

“I like to study back here, nobody comes by to bother me.”

Laura smiles but stays quiet, contemplating how to begin articulating the thoughts that had plagued her all night without sounding crazy, presumptuous or worse, accusatory. Carmilla loses her patience first.

“So, what is it Laura?”

At the sound of her name, Laura’s heart begins to drum in her chest like a war march.

“Okay, well you see. When I got back from dinner last night Lafontaine and Danny, my friends- you know, you met them briefly?” Laura knows she’s getting off track, her voice rising an octave with nerves but Carmilla simply nods and lets her go on. “They were waiting up. They seemed sort of worried about you. You and me, that is…”

Laura trails off as she realizes that Carmilla had been moving steadily closer to her as she struggled with her words. Her back is now up against a stack of Descartes and she can feel Carmilla’s cool breath caress her face. 

“What about you and me?” Carmilla’s voice is deep and jagged; it cuts through Laura’s chest swift and decisive as a sabre blade. 

Laura closes her eyes and tilts forward curling her toes for support until she feels the velveteen curve of Carmilla’s mouth brush the vermilion border of her upper lip. She gasps and withdraws.

“Please, Carm. I want to, I do but I need to ask first.”

“I know what you’re going to ask.” Carmilla is whispering now and her eyes are suddenly sad.

Laura takes her hand and with equal hush replies, “Is it true? Are you a- a…”

“A vampire?” Carmilla growls and Laura recoils. She isn’t scared of Carmilla, she is certain of that somehow but is startled by the noise, so guttural and so pained. Carmilla sees Laura step back and her spine bends in on itself like a bow. She seems all of a sudden small and vulnerable, her usual equanimity melting away. Laura watches as Carmilla nods impossibly slowly. 

“Oh okay. I see! Um, neat…Cause you know, I’ve never met- Well who has right? Stupid question, you have of course but-” Laura rambles incoherently until finally she notices Carmilla smirking. That same devilish smile she wore the day they met. 

“Neat? I tell you that I’m a vampire and you say “neat”? You are a very strange girl.”

Laura and Carmilla sit in the deserted corner of the library, their backs against the shelves as Carmilla reads Tolstoy aloud, tracing the lines on Laura’s palm to the rhythm of Anna Karenina.

“He looked at her as a man might look at a faded flower he had plucked, in which it was difficult for him to trace the beauty that had made him pick and so destroy it.”

Laura lays a palm on Carmilla’s arm at the soft apex of her elbow, and she stops reading.

“You’re not a faded flower, Carm.” She whispers like a promise.

“I’m glad you don’t think so, Cupcake.”

When the sun sinks below the castle turrets and a pile of forgotten books lie in a halo on the floor around them, Carmilla takes Laura’s chin between her prone fingertips and kisses her deeply. Litanies write themselves behind Laura’s eyelids as her mouth opens, easy and greedy for Carmilla. A warm heavy liquid feeling sinks low in Laura’s gut and she crosses her legs tight in an attempt to quell it. They kiss until Laura has no breath left in her quaking lungs and her cheeks are cherry red with rushing blood. 

“Wow.” Laura’s voice is coarse like she’s momentarily forgotten how to speak. Maybe she has. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

Carmilla’s face shifts from a gentle smile to one of worry.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“No!” Laura rushes to damn whatever flow of apologies was about to spill from Carmilla. “I liked it. I really liked that. I just, it’s not like me!” 

Carmilla relaxes and drapes a lithe arm around Laura’s shoulders.

“I like this you.” She purrs.

“Me too.”

Laura wonders how someone ostensibly dead herself, can make her remember so vividly that she’s not.


	2. The Eager and The Fearful

That evening, having both unintentionally skipped an entire afternoon of class, Laura and Carmilla make it into the Great Hall just as the mains are appearing as if from nowhere atop the long House tables. Laura is about to follow Carmilla to the Slytherin table when she spots Danny and Lafontaine waving to a space they’d saved with the Gryffindors. Noticing that Laura has stopped walking behind her, Carmilla turns and follows Laura’s gaze across the room.

“You’d better go sit with your friends.”

Laura grabs Carmilla’s hand shaking her head.

“I want to sit with you.”

“That’s nice, Cutie. But it looks like they’ve saved you a seat. Go on, I’ll catch up with you later.”

Laura gives Carmilla’s hand a grateful squeeze and continues to her seat, a growing sense of apprehension bubbling up in her gut. 

“Say, has anyone seen my friend Laura? You know, the goodie two shoes whose never skipped a lesson in her life?” Lafontaine winks at Laura as she settles down on the bench and begins loading her plate. 

Laura laughs spuriously and rolls her eyes.

“Very funny. I lost track of the time.”

Danny scoffs and shakes her head. Laura looks at her expectantly but when she doesn’t explain, Laura shrugs and takes a bite of potpie, chewing pensively.  
The meal is awkward and Lafontaine tries to break the tension with jest but Laura sits uncomfortably under Danny’s stare and can’t bring herself to scoff, even when Laf makes a walrus face with a pair of wands. Finally, as the deserts appear Laura’s had enough.

“Okay, what is it with you? What’s wrong?”

Danny drops her knife and fork to the table and turns, she seems geared up and ready for something and Laura hopes she’s equally prepared.

“Beside the fact that you’ve sold your heart to a snake? Oh, nothing.”

“You know what? I’ve had enough of this. I like Carmilla, okay? Maybe if you two just got to know her-”

“Get to know a Slytherin? Laura, do you hear yourself?” Danny’s voice rises and a couple heads from further down the Gryffindor table, turn curiously towards them. 

“Do you?” Laura shoots the question back, her forehead wrinkling with frustration. 

Just then, a gentle tap on Laura’s shoulder startles her and she turns.

“Are you alright there, cupcake? I could see you frowning from across the hall. You’re usually so happy around food.” 

Laura takes a deep breath and tries to smile. With a pointed look to Danny and Lafontaine, she stands and brushes bread roll crumbs from her lap.

“I’m fine, thanks Carm. Just full I think. Let’s go?”

Carmilla looks puzzled for a moment but leads Laura out the Hall doors into the corridor nonetheless. They take the secret passageway back down to the Slytherin dungeons silently but this time, Carmilla takes Laura’s hand and leads her past the stairs to the common room and straight to the dormitory, its walls lined with four poster beds, curtained by deep emerald canopies of thin velvet. Carmilla points to what is presumably her bed and lets Laura climb on it first, shutting the drapes behind them. The flickering light of wall torches casts the cocoon of Carmilla’s bed in lush dancing beams of green. Laura watches them move across Carmilla’s face before leaning forward and pressing an eager kiss to her open mouth. Carmilla kisses back for a moment, her breath coming in short bursts and her lips parting easy like a spring tulip. Suddenly though, she pulls back and urges Laura to do the same with a gentle beseeching hand on her bicep. 

“I didn’t bring you here to do that.”

Laura looks hurt.  
“Oh…”

“No, I didn’t mean- I want to! But Laura, I want to know what happened back there. Why you were upset. I may not be good with the sappy feeling stuff but I’m not blind.” 

“It’s nothing, really.” Laura rushed out shaking her head. “Just Danny being difficult.” 

Laura leans in for another kiss but Carmilla only pecks the side of her mouth and pulls away again. 

“I think she likes you.”

“Danny?” Laura questions, scooting closer on her knees to where Carm sits against the headboard. 

“The ginger tree.”

“Yeah, that’s Danny. I think she might but it doesn’t matter because I don’t like her like that.”

Laura kisses Carmilla’s cheek and cranes her neck to place several more, increasingly wet kisses at the line of her jaw. Carmilla laughs breathily at Laura’s puppy dog excitement and nudges her playfully away. 

Pouting, Laura finally sits back on her haunches and crosses her arms.

“Sorry, I just really like kissing you.”

“I like kissing you too, Cutie. A lot. I just don’t want to take things too fast. After all, we are in my bed.”

Laura’s cheeks flare crimson and she glances around like she’s just remembered their location. 

“Right. Not too fast. I can do that.” Laura takes a deep breath and bounces slightly with frantic energy. 

“So, Danny?” Carmilla reminds her of their conversation. 

“Right. She’s just still hung up on this whole ‘you’re a vampire thing’ as if she’s never heard of a good vampire!”

Carmilla laughs heartily and Laura smiles, pleased even if she’s not sure what Carmilla finds so funny.

“Have you?”

Laura shrugs carelessly. “That’s beside the point. Danny and Laf don’t know you.” 

Something dark passes over Carmilla’s features like a storm cloud and she stares dejectedly at her hands as they twist in her lap.

“Neither do you Cupcake, not really.” 

Laura startles as if she’s just touched a live outlet. 

“But I do Carm! I feel like I’ve known you for years.”

“Feeling is not the same as knowing, Laura.” 

Laura’s face turns down in a sulk.

“Fine. Have it your way.”

She climbs out of Carmilla’s bed unceremoniously, yanking the curtain back in place behind her and ignores Carmilla’s protests as she runs back up the stairs the way she came. 

Laura storms straight past the fat lady’s portrait to the Gryffindor common room and jogs through the halls, dodging the flow of students returning to their dorms for the night. She ducks under the shoulders of two Ravenclaws deep in conversation about the properties of Lace Wing flies and slips surreptitiously out into the darkening night. It’s only when a gust of wind whips at her face that Laura realizes her cheeks are wet with tears. She palms at them angrily and slumps down on the damp grass overlooking the Black Lake. She watches it’s crystalline surface ripple with the movement of some monstrous creature down below and listens to the muffled songs of mer-people. 

After a short while, a crunch in the dry fallen leaves behind her makes Laura jump, but she composes herself quickly.

“Go away Carmilla.”

The figure continues toward her, eventually coming to sit down at her hip. 

“Not a bad ass vampire, unfortunately. Just me.”

Lafontaine nudges Laura with an elbow and she sighs, cracking a small smile for Laf’s sake. 

“Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting anyone else to be out here past dark.”  
“I was looking for unicorn dung. It’s supposed to be great in healing potions. Want to help?”

Laura laughs and shakes her head.

“I’m good, thanks. I don’t generally look to pick up poop.”

“Suit yourself.” Lafontaine chuckles easily and the sound soothes just a little bit of the sickness stewing in Laura’s gut. “What brings you out here then?”

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.”

“I asked, didn’t I?” 

A silence, and then Lafontaine exhales heavily.

“Look Laura, I know Danny’s been difficult lately. She likes you and it’s not your fault she feels upset but you’ve got to understand. Carmilla is new to the picture. Danny will adjust eventually just give her some time. As for me, I’m your friend. You can talk to me if something is getting you down.”

Laura doesn’t mean to let her face contort in pain and fat tears to leak from her tired eyes. She feels herself welling up and realizes all too late that she has no control over the barrage. 

“Sorry Laf. Sorry.” She blubbers pathetically. 

Lafontaine wraps a comforting arm around Laura’s shoulders and rocks the two of them in what is hopefully a comforting motion. 

Laura sucks in a shaking breath and wipes futilely at her sopping wet cheeks. 

“I just don’t know what’s come over me. I was fine a couple days ago and now...” She sniffs. “Now, I feel like I’m going crazy.” 

“You really like the broody vampire, huh?” 

Looking at Lafontaine witheringly, Laura groans.

“No, no. Listen Laura, I don’t mean it like that, honesty. I mean, maybe I do a little but-“

“Laf!” Laura admonishes.

“Well, she is a Slytherin. Are you sure about this?”

Laura considers Lafontaine’s words. Up until that day in detention, Laura had despised the Slytherins on principle just as much as any good Gryffindor. But now, she just doesn’t know. Carmilla couldn’t be evil when she makes Laura feel only good things. Warm, liquid things that keep her up giddy at night. Unless. Well unless Laura is evil too. She swallows and turns away from Lafontaine to wipe another tear before it slips incriminatingly down her cheek. Laf is too quick and too observant though. 

“Hey now, don’t do that again! It’s not the end of the world, Laura. If you like this girl, you like her. We’re still your friends, you know that.”

Laura takes a shuddering breath in and shivers like a new bird, preparing for flight. 

“I do. But Danny-“

“Forget about Danny. She loves you and she’ll get over it, but maybe not before you make her.” 

Considering Lafontaine’s profile in the silvery light, Laura nods. Laf doesn’t notice, but it doesn’t really matter. 

They sit in silence for some time until Laf’s eyes are drooping low and Laura’s head is bobbing like the lily pads on the lake. 

“I guess we should go in, huh?” Lafontaine whispers, even though nobody else is around to hear them.

“You can, I’m going to stay out here for a little while longer.” Laura whispers back.

“Are you sure?”

Laura smiles.

“Just for a little while.”

It’s strange how time is so loud when there’s nothing else to drown it out. No voices, no music, no laughter or footsteps. Just the metronomic tick of life passing, the perpetual motion of things. Always forward, never back. Unless, Laura supposes, in those dark recesses of the universe where black holes turn time inside out before obliterating it completely. 

“You’re thinking too hard.” Carmilla’s purring voice from the darkness should have startled her, but instead it’s a strange relief.

“Maybe.” Laura agrees. “How’d you sneak up on me like that?”

Carmilla steps out of the shadow of a hedge and moonbeams bounce off her ivory teeth.

“I’m light on my feet. Like a cat.”

Chuckling, Laura shakes her head. “And how’d you know I was out here? You telepathic as well?”

Carmilla echoes Laura’s laugh and comes to stand behind her, hands linked behind her back.

“I ran into your friend, Lafontaine?” She asks unsure.

Laura nods. “I should have known.”

“I won’t stay if you’d rather be alone though.” 

“No! Please, sit. I mean, if you want to. I’m sorry about earlier.”

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s me who should be sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped.” Carmilla sits down next to Laura as she speaks, but leaves a sizable gap between their hips. 

“Okay, but…” Laura hesitates, debating whether she should continue and risk another fight. In the end, she can’t help herself. “But you’re still staying away, you’re still... over there.” She gestures to the space between them.

Carmilla sighs deeply and above them an owl hoots in reply. 

“I’m sorry, I’m doing it again aren’t I?” Laura puts her face in her hands and shakes her head at herself. “It’s just, you kissed me! I thought that meant-“ Carmilla looks at her and their eyes still. Even in the darkness Laura sees Carmilla’s dark irises fixated on her. “Something.” She finishes quietly. 

“It does! Of course it means something Laura.” 

Carmilla finally moves closer until her arm brushes the side of Laura’s. All the soft downy hairs on the back of Laura’s arm rise up to meet Carmilla’s skin glowing ivory in the moonlight. As if a spell was broken, Carmilla gasps and turns to Laura. Seeing the change, Laura takes a deep breath and waits, trying not to surge forward with a level of self-control she never knew she possessed. Finally, Carmilla leans in. It’s so slow that Laura thinks she’s imagining the movement until she sees the shadow of the surrounding trees shift over Carmilla’s face. 

“You are going to kiss me, right? Because I know we’re meant to be taking things slow but if you don’t, I think I might die.”  
Carmilla laughs but thankfully, doesn’t withdraw.

“I would’ve already done it if you could shut that beautiful mouth for two seconds.”

Then all at once, like lightening over water, they’re kissing hot and furiously. Laura’s heart is thundering in her chest as she opens her mouth wide and willing. She feels Carmilla’s fingertips spread in rivets through her hair like water, gently tracing her scalp and she moans, deep and rumbling into the kiss. The sound seems to startle Carmilla from her stupor and she pulls away. Laura’s eyes open slowly and when she looks upon Carmilla, her chin is on her chest, eyes locked in her lap. Her mouth is a thin line, lips tucked in over her teeth. 

“Carm? Was I going too fast again?” 

“It’s not that, Cupcake.” Carmilla’s voice is shaky and breathless in a way that makes Laura believe her.

“Then what?” 

Carmilla swallows and finally looks up. She suddenly seems smaller and if possible, even paler. Her eyelids are almost translucent and there are dark shadows framing her eyes. 

“I just don’t feel very well today. I feel weak… hungry. I shouldn’t kiss you when I’m hungry.” She finishes very quietly. 

Laura nods, understanding at last.

“You need to feed!”

Carmilla bows her head, her neck bending like the branch of a Yew tree. 

“Something like that, Cutie.” 

Laura sweeps her hair, the colour of honey to one side, revealing her neck and the flutter of her beating heart at it’s nape. 

“Laura what are you doing?” Carmilla looks utterly terrified. Her eyes are so wide that the moon is reflected in them like a cataract. 

“I trust you Carmilla. You can feed on me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your feedback so far! Here's another instalment because you were so encouraging. As always, messages also welcome at lena2theletter.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is much appreciated. Requests or comments welcome at lena2theletter.tumblr.com


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